The Alaskan 737 door blowout once again highlights the reluctance of some US pilots to use the standard ICAO phrase Mayday when declaring an emergency.
Listening to the conversation with ATC there appeared confusion with the initial situation because of the lack of standard ICAO phraseology.
The FedEx emergency below demonstrates what appears to be a widespread problem with many Americans pilots.At no point did the crew call Mayday.
The ATC audio starts around 45 seconds in.
The regulations are quite clear .
https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publ...section_3.html